Gas-distributing system.



Patented Oct. 7, I902.

No. 7IO,642.

- F c. & a. L. WILSON.

GAS DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM.

(Application fiIed Feb. 10. 1902.)

(No Model.)

ZZZ/e01 UnTTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

F. CORTEZ WILSON, OF CHICAGO, AND GEORGE LANDIS WILSON, OF OAK- PARK, ILLINOIS.

GAS-DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,642, dated October '7, 1902.

Application filed February 10, 1902. Serial No. 98,327. (No model.)

To all 1071/0777 if; may concern;

Beit known that we, F. CORTEZ IVILSON, residing at Chicago, and GEORGE LANDIS WIL- sON, residing at Oakpark, Illinois, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Gas-Distributing Systems, of which the Following is a specification.

In acetylene-gas installations which incl udc To a considerable number of burners it is frequently found desirable to divide the burners into separate groups and provide a generator for each group rather than to supply all the burners from a single generator. In such cases, however, it not infrequently happens that the generator supplying one group of burners will by reason of imperfect regulation be producing gas morerapidly than its bu ruers demand and in excess of its storage capacity,

in which case the surplus will ordinarily be wasted through a blow-oft, although it may happen that at the same time an adjacent generator may be taxed to its utmost capacity to supply one of the other groups of burners with the amount of gas required for theml The object of the present invention is to overcome this difficulty by providing such connections as will enable the excess or after generation from the generator of any one 0 group of burners to be diverted to some other group or groups of burners, and thus utilized as a part of the supply to the latter instead of being blown ott' into the atmosphere and wasted; and to this end the invention consists in the matters herein set forth, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and will be fully understood from the following description of the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which 0 Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic View showing the manner of installing a series of generators in accordance with our invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views of slightlymodified arrangements embodying the same general principle of construction.

As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the several burners of a gas system or installation are divided ott into a number of separate groups B, each of which groups is normally 5o supplied with gas from a separate generator A through its outlet-pipe a. A supplementary outlet-pipe a also leads from each generator into a common gas chamber or passage 0, within which the pipes dip an equal distance into a water seal. Normally this seal prevents any escape of gas through these supplementary outlet-pipes a; but in case either one of the generators is making gas in excess of the demands upon it and of its storage capacity the resulting increase of pressure will overcome this seal and cause the excess of gas made to bubble up through the water into the upper portion of the chamber C, where it will continue to accumulate until the level of the water within the chamber is forced down to a point where all of the pipes a are uncovered, whereupon a flow will ensue up through one or more of the others of these pipes and thence on to the corresponding other group or groups of burners. For example, let it be assumed that the burners ot' one of the groups B are suddenly all extinguished. The after-gem eration of gas in the generator A which supplies this group will thereupon force up its bell A until it is filled to its fullest capacity. Beyond this point the movement of the bell must be limited in some manner, as

by contact with a bar L, and when this point is reached if the generation continues, as it ordinarily will to a greater or less extent, the surplus gas can only escape through the pipe a. This it will do as soon'as the increased pressure is great enough to overcome the water seal in the chamber 0, and as it. continues to escape into this chamber the gas will gradually depress the surface of the water seal until the pipes a are all uncovered. Communication will be now open through the chamber 0 between all of the 0 generators, and the excess of gas made in the first generator will pass through into the outlet-pipes leading to the other groups of burners or to that group where additional gas is most needed, as the relative pressureswill determine. Thus instead of being wasted the surplus gas from any one generator will be utilized to help in maintaining the supply of the other generators, and this action will obviously occur whenever the amount of gas [00 made by any generator is in excess of the amount consumed at the burners supplied by that generator, whether such excess is due to the after generation following the extinguishing of the burners or to some failure in regulation by which gas is made in excess of the normal supply required. The automatic distribution from one generator to another in this manner will continue only so long as the excess generation is sufficient to maintain a pressure greater than the resistance of the liquid seal, for as soon as the pressure falls below this amount the seal will again close the pipes a and prevent further flow through the chamber 0, and the nor mally independent operation of the several generators will thus not be interfered with, it being obvious that the head from the tank D will force the water up into each of the pipes to and seal them at all times except when the pressure in one of the generators is sufficient to depress the water below the common level of these pipes.

As shown in Fig. 1, the chamber 0 is simply an inverted cup secured within a larger vessel or tank D, with which it is in open communication at its lower end, and this tank is provided with an overflow-pipe d, the location of which will determine the intensity of the abnormal pressure required to force the gas from one generator to another through the chamber 0. In case the excess of gas generated should be greater than could be taken care of by all of the burners in use it may escape through a blow-off pipe E, which depends into the water in the chamber 0 to apoint beneath the lower ends of the pipe (1, so that it will be the last to be uncovered.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the chamber 0 is replaced by a transverse pipe o to which the supplemental outlet-pipes a leading from the several generators are connected, this pipe a being also connected by a pipe a with a tank D, by filling which a depth equal to the height of the seal desired can be obtained in the pipes a. The operation of this device will be the same as in the construction shown in Fig. 1-2'. 6., an abnormal increase in the pressure in any generator will force down the water in its supplemental outlet-pipe a and permit the gas to escape through pipe 0. into either of the other pipes a.' The blow-01f pipe E in this case leads off from the tank connection a and in case the total generation is too great to be taken up by all the burners the water will be forced down low enough to uncover the lower end of the blow-off pipe and permit the gas to escape into the atmosphere. Substantially the same construction obtains in Fig. 3, except that the blow-off pipe leads out of the upper end of the tank D, which is otherwise closed, and excessive pressure throughout the system causing the gas to back up through the tank connection a and bubble up through the water in the tank to enter the blow-ofi pipe. A filling-pipe d, as well as an overflow d, is also shown on the tank D in this case.

We claim as our invention- 1. In a gas-lighting system, two or more generators each with an independent line of piping, and a secondary normally sealed line connecting all the generators, and means for opening said secondary line by excessive pressure upon any one of the generators, substantially as described.

2. In a gas-distributing system, the combination of two or more normally independent lines of piping each connected with a separate generator, means for increasing the pressure in each generator severally, as it produces gas in excess of the demands upon it, and a common passage communicating between the several lines of piping and normally liquidsealed but adapted to be opened by the increased pressure upon any generator in the system, substantially as described.

3. In a system of gas distribution, the combination with two or more normally independent generators supplying gas to separate parts of the system, of normally sealed connections between the separate generators adapted to be opened by abnormal pressure in one of them, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we affix our signatures, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

F. OORTEZ WILSON. GEO. LANDIS W'ILSON.

Witnesses:

B. A. DAVY, N. A. Oos'rELLo. 

